Medieval Drinking Habits

From: Martin Dick <Martin.Dick_at_fcit.monash.edu.au>
Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 15:44:09 +1000

In relation to the drinking habits of Medieval folk, one of the most frightening figures I heard while visiting an old monastery on the Rhine, was that the monks had a daily allowance of 5 litres of wine, (the nuns only got 3 litres).

Now while Rhine Riesling is a very delicious drop, 5 litres would leave me reeling. The funniest part was the metal guides on the door, which narrowed down to the keyhole, so that the brothers entering the monastery would find it easy to get the key into the keyhole.

Makes the regular drunken sprees our Orlanthi go on, seem quite tame actually.

Martin

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